Francesca, the Student Who Wants to Deliver Gasoline to Your Home

SHE CREATED THE STARTUP FUELLY WITH COLLEAGUES FROM BOCCONI TO JUMP INTO THE WORLD OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, HER LONGTIME DREAM. HOLDER OF A BAA SCHOLARSHIP, SHE TELLS ABOUT HER DESIRES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Together with three Bocconi colleagues, she created Fuelly, a startup that wants to deliver fuel to those who run out of gas. The company is among the thirty admitted to the marketplace of the last edition of Bocconi Startup Day, last November, during which it was presented to investors. Francesca Lisi, a 22-year-old student in the first year of the Master in International Management (and a graduate in Economics and Management at Bocconi) has entrepreneurship in the blood, "even if I never thought I could realize this idea already at University ", she says.

A university career marked by commitment is the path of the student from Bagno a Ripoli (Florence), which included a BAA scholarship, giving partial exemption from university fees.  It also led her to the stage of the 2018 edition of the Bocconi  Donor Event, one of three stories of deserving students told during the initiative. On that occasion, Francesca explained the idea of the group: "Fuelly was born less than a year ago from real life experiences. With my colleagues Luca Camagni, Andrea Anesa and Francesco Chiarpenello we have studied what has already been developed abroad, such as Yoshi and Booster in the United States. Our intention is to start with B2B, through collaborations with car sharing companies and then also to private individuals. The idea is simple: if you run out of gas, we'll bring it to you where you are."

At the Startup Day marketplace, the idea aroused interest, but "we were asked to test the market," continues the student. "Investors want to first discover if this can work and therefore we are working to launch the business".

For Francesca Lisi entrepreneurship, however, is a long-standing wish: "It's always been my dream in the drawer and that's why I chose to do economics", although admits to having also thought of law when choosing. "Bocconi is very stimulating and encourages us to take that path. Being an entrepreneur is also a bit in my DNA: in my family I would not be the only one".

And given the path she is taking, the BAA scholarship makes her more serene: "I hate the idea of burdening the shoulders of others", says the young woman, who during her undergraduate program was also selected as one of 20 student IT tutors. "The scholarship stimulates me to do even better, and going on the stage of the Donor Event to tell who I am and what I do to the University's supporters was an opportunity for me to show them that what they have invested in me is making a profit ".

And if the startup road doesn’t lead anywhere? "I see myself abroad, in London, maybe in consultancy," she concludes.
 

by Andrea Celauro
Translated by Richard Greenslade